Partition Wa East District - South Sissala Youth Association

Funsi (UWR), May 3, GNA - The South Sissala Tertiary Education Youth Association has called for the partitioning of the Wa East District, to enhance effective administration and social integration. The Association explained that, with the current boundaries and composition of the three different ethnic groups, effective administration was impaired by physical barriers such as the Kulun and Hambalara Rivers.

The two rivers have effectively split the district into two, along ethnic lines with the Sissalas on one side and the Chakali and Wala on the other.

This was contained in a communiqu=E9 signed by Mr Timothy Nbenaba, President of the Association, at its second annual congress at Funsi on Sunday.

The Association noted that due to cultural and language differences between the three major ethnic groups and the attendant manoeuvrings for leadership positions and influence in the political administration of the district, social relations had always not been the best. As a result, the Association is of the view that those physical and social challenges that impede the total development of the district could be overcome by the partition, where the Chakali and Wala areas could be reattached to become a separate district.

The Association also called for the restoration of the Funsi/Kundungu/Kojokperi District, which was created in the First Republic and this should be known as the South Sissala District. It further called on government and all implementing agencies involved in the construction of the Senior High School at Funsi to expedite action on the project.

The Association appealed to the Ministry of Education to start mobilizing the necessary human resources and other logistics to enable the school to take off in the 2010/11 academic year. It urged government to consider upgrading the Saint John's Health Centre at Funsi to the status of a district hospital, with the requisite human resource and equipment, to help provide quality healthcare services to the people.

Efforts must also be made to connect Funsi, the district capital and other major communities to the national electricity grid, to encourage investors to invest in the area.

On the road network, the Association urged the Ghana Highways Authority and the Department of Feeder Roads, as well as other relevant agencies, to upgrade the major trunk roads and to construct feeder and link roads to open up the District.

The Association appealed to government to consider constructing steel bridges on Kulun and Hambalara Rivers to ensure an all-year-round access of all parts of the District, as well as the regional capital.